


Exception to the Rules

by AlternativeRocker



Category: The Hour
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 18:10:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7584688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlternativeRocker/pseuds/AlternativeRocker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following on from the final scenes of series 2 Lix and Randall know there is nobody else they need to be with that night than each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exception to the Rules

She heard a soft knock on the front door but made no effort to move towards it. The door was slightly ajar form where she had stumbled into the hall, forgetting to close it properly. "Lix?" He had experienced enough with her to not grow concerned at the door situation and to not hesitate before moving inside, audibly closing it for her benefit. She knew his voice instantly - the years hadn't changed her reaction to that rich timbre - but she was surprised by his appearance at her flat.

"How many times have I told you to be careful about locking your door?" He said into the empty space. If he talked about more trivial domestic matters, he hoped it would distance himself from the events of the prior twenty-four hours. Randall knew it was a futile hope when he heard the sobs emanating from the living room. He and Lix had stayed with Freddie and Bel until the doctors took him into surgery and went their separate ways. The office was where he returned to for about thirty minutes until it hit him where the only place he knew he should be was. He had walked here in these early hours, his jacket forgotten back at the studio but he was uninterested in anything beyond the woman he had met half a lifetime ago.

"Alexis?" Outside of professional environments he was the only one she allowed to call her by the full version of her name. He had never been in this building but he followed the noise until he saw her sitting against a wall with her forehead resting on her bent knees, arms wrapped around her lower legs. Seeing her this way affected him more than finding out the truth about their missing child, yet he couldn't let it show this time. It wouldn't help either for both of them to be in such a state.

While her heart had broke numerous times in his office earlier this particular day she had watched how he dealt with bad news and now it was playing out in reverse. When he lost control his obsession with neatness was literally thrown away; meanwhile she tidied. His tics infuriated her but they were such a huge part of his, and ultimately _their_ , lives that they had become ingrained in her mind. He was always her touchstone for stability, even on their worst days Lix would reach out to him and he would help just by being there. When he ceased to be nearby one of the few things which remained was memories of his habits which she took comfort in. So when her life wasn't going to plan, she would sort her surroundings and excluding a handful of occasions it kept her from breaking down.

Randall had noticed her doing this as their relationship had developed all those years before and he realised it was still an on-going thing as he glanced at her ordered sparse possessions. Not caring whether or not she had swept the bare floorboards yet he lowered himself down to be beside her, their bodies meeting like magnets as soon as possible. She shifted into his side, his arms around the curled up figure who he had never fell out of love with. She was his complete antithesis - he had known it from the moment he laid eyes on her with her messy hair and glasses between her scarlet-painted lips. Yet their differences made them fit beautifully together, arguments intensifying the passion they followed it with in private.

It was some minutes before she breathed in enough oxygen to speak, muffled as she put words to the tears that seemed to have an endless supply - he was the only one who came close to understanding and god, she had missed him. "Why does everyone leave? Do I not see enough hurt and suffering at work to have to go through it in my downtime? You, Sophia, now Freddie?!" Behind all the pain she was angry. Anger flowed with the blood coursing through her and it was directed at everyone, a high amount of which at Randall but she didn't want to feel that way. He would leave again though, she had believed that since he told her he was looking for their daughter. With Randall he used to be invested in something for a while and run when it got more serious - and this had the hallmarks of those situations.

After he left twenty years ago, she had promised herself she wouldn't become involved again with anyone close in age to herself. The younger men she spent nights with were fantastic but there would never be any commitment, which was exactly how she planned. And those with a similar date of birth would send her hurtling back to thoughts of Randall and what they could have had if they reached that age as a couple. They were older now though, and they had both changed in that time.

His hands ran across the familiar curves in an act of comfort, pressing his lips into her hair. It was so rare to see Lix Storm in such a state, more so for her not to try to hide it. "We don't know that he isn't going to pull through and I am right here. I'm not leaving The Hour or London. I'm not leaving you, not again Alexis." One of his hands found her face and ran his thumb down the damp cheek, the contact lighting sparks that neither had felt with anyone else. Lix's tears continued to fall on to his shirt but she moved her arms to encircle his waist, both halves tightening their hold as she whispered against his chest, "Good plan."

They weren't sure how many hours they stayed in the same position for but eventually drifted into restless sleeps, only the presence of the other giving them some form of solace. The old feelings they shared had remained one of the strongest emotions and although they had carved out their individual paths there was nobody else they could feel this way about.


End file.
